| Conflict: | Baltic operation (1941) |
| Partof: | Operation Barbarossa during the Eastern Front of World War II |
| Place: | Baltic states, USSR |
| Date: | 22 June – 9 July 1941 |
| Result: | German victory
|
| Commander1: | Georg von Küchler Ernst Busch Erich Hoepner Alfred Keller |
| Commander2: | Pyotr Sobennikov Nikolai Berzarin Gustav Jonson |
| Units1: | Army Group North
3rd Panzer Group (parts) |
| Units2: | Northwestern Front |
| Strength1: | 655,000 1,389 tanks 7,673 artillery pieces 1,070 aircraft |
| Strength2: | 786,000 1,393 tanks 5,573 artillery pieces 1,210 aircraft |
| Casualties1: | unknown |
| Casualties2: | 75,202 killed 13,284 wounded 2,523 tanks & SPGs destroyed 990 aircraft destroyed Total: 88,486 casualties |
The Baltic strategic defensive operation (Russian: Прибалтийская стратегическая оборонительная операция) encompassed the operations of the Red Army from 22 June to 9 July 1941 conducted over the territories of the occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in response to the offensive launched by the Wehrmacht in Operation Barbarossa.
The operation consisted of three distinct smaller operations
Border defensive battles (22–24 June 1941)
Battle of Raseiniai also known as the Kaunas counterattack
Šiauliai counter-offensive operation (24–27 June 1941)
Defense of the Hanko Naval Base (22 June–2 December 1941)
The principal Red Army formations of the operation were the Northwestern Front and the Baltic Fleet, with the major ground forces consisting of the 8th (commander General Major Pyotr Sobennikov), 11th (commander Lieutenant General Vasily Morozov) and later 27th Armies.
The operation was conducted after the forces of the Baltic Special Military District were alerted in the morning of 22 June 1941 following a surprise attack by the German Wehrmachts Army Group North which consisted of the 18th, 16th Field Armies and the 4th Panzer Group, and elements of the 3rd Panzer Group, supported by the Luftflotte 1.
On 22 June, the Soviet 8th Army was positioned in northern Lithuania opposed by the German 18th Army. The Soviet 11th Army defended the rest of the Lithuanian border with East Prussia and sought to contain the attacks of the German 16th Army and the 4th Panzer Group.
While the Soviet 8th Army retreated along the Jelgava–Riga–Tartu–Narva–Pskov direction, the Soviet 11th Army sought to initially hold the Kaunas and Vilnius sector of the front, but was forced to retreat along the Daugavpils–Pskov–Novgorod axis. These withdrawals, although costly in losses of personnel and materiel, avoided major encirclements experienced by the fronts to the south, and succeeded in delaying Army Group North sufficiently to allow Soviet forces time to prepare the defense of Leningrad.
The operation was not a single continuous withdrawal, but was punctuated by short-lived counterattacks, counterstrokes or counteroffensives.
The subordinate formations and units of the Armies were:
Front subordination
The Soviet forces were defeated and forced to fall back. The next operation, according to the Soviet official history, was the Leningrad strategic defensive operation (10 July-30 September 1941), which attempted to establish a stable front along the Narva–Novgorod line.